The Devil and His Broken Things (Billdip)
by tinyscientists
Summary: Night-time is for sleeping, Dipper is 17, he should know that. But, an insatiable curiosity, insomnia, a mysterious stranger, and a little magic would get anyone into trouble. Rated M for mild violence and language. Pairing: DipperxBill, Bipper, BillxDipper, Billdip
1. Chapter 1

**Authors Note: This is my first story I've ever published on here so please leave a review, favorite, or follow. I don't have a set upload schedule so chapters will go up as soon as I finish editing. Enjoy!**

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The room was quiet while Dipper laid in his bed one night. The autumn moon was streaming in through the attic window casting the room in a dim glow. He rolled over onto his side to look over at his sister. Mabel was still asleep, just as he should have been. It was 3 in the morning after all. But for some reason he couldn't sleep, no matter how much he tried to. Something was just off, but he couldn't place what it was.

Try as he might, Dipper knew sleep wasn't coming so he got up. A walk usually settles his mind when he's restless so tonight should be no different. He slipped on a pair of black socks to keep the chill off his feet before padding softly down the stairs. He skipped the third and seventh stepped that creaked loudly when stepped on and made sure to land on the center of the carpet where it was thickest when he jumped off at the end.

Not wanting to deal with the bell on the screen door at the front of the shack, he went into the living room and unlatched the window above the chair. His arms broke out in goosebumps when a cool breeze came though.

He tip-toed back into the hall and grabbed a maroon sweater hanging on the hook and put it on over his pajamas. He checked to make sure Grunkle Stan wasn't making his midnight fridge run then went back to the window.

"I've become too good at sneaking out..." Dipper thought to himself as he slipped out the window.

His feet landed in the grass and he turned to pull the window almost closed. After he had finished he looked down the side of the house towards the backyard. Deciding that a climb up the totem pole would do him good, he started walking.

When he reached the pole he looked it up and down, deciding the best way up. A cracking branch behind him made him turn. He looked into the trees but saw nothing, but he wasn't scared. This was Gravity Falls, finding a gnome scampering through the trees or Bigfoot out for a moonlit stroll wouldn't be that uncommon.

However as he was turning back to the totem pole something to his left caught is eye. It was a little light out in the trees, very dim and seemingly far away. Normally this wouldn't be a cause for interest, but Dipper couldn't seem to look away.

"What is that?" He thought, "it doesn't look like fire."

Dipper turned back to the totem pole and looked up at it, then back to the light. He did this two more times before sighing and turning back to the trees and starting to walk.

"I'll just look, then go back to the shack," he told himself. "What harm could a little peek do?" This was a terrible question. Dipper, being curious since birth, knew very well what harm a little curiosity could do. But he put aside his worries and continued to walk.

He breathed in the cool scent of fallen pine needles as he walked, pulling his sweater in a little tighter as a breeze shook the trees. As he walked he kept his eyes on the light in the distance, only looking away to glance down where he was walking.

For the first few minutes the walking was easy and the needles covered the most of the ground with the exception of patches of grass. As the light grew closer, the foliage grew denser and the rays of moonlight became smaller and dimmer. Dipper stumbled into a tree when his foot caught on a small root protruding from the forest floor.

He winced as he gingerly rubbed his sore toes, leaning backwards against the bark. He took off his sock to insure his toes weren't broken or bleeding. As he was putting the sock back on he looked back towards the now much brighter light. He was close enough now that the light was partially illuminating the trees in front of him. He began to walk forward again, wincing at the stiffness in his foot.

The ground began to rise slightly and Dipper was able to use low branches and shrubs to help in the climb. By now he couldn't be more than fifteen feet from the source of the light and he began to tread lighter as he moved between the trees. He could see where the hill peaked and lowered to his hands and knees in an effort to remain out of sight in case what he found over the hill was hostile. At the top of the hill there was a large rock that could mostly hide him if he stayed crouched.

He pressed his back against the boulder and turned his head to peek around it and squinted in the bright light. When his eyes adjusted he looked towards the source of the light and saw "... a boy?" Dipper whispered. He rolled quietly into his stomach and edged up to the crest of the hill for a better look.

It was indeed a boy standing in the light. Tall and lean with blonde hair with a black streak towards the front that curled slightly at the ends. He was facing slightly away from Dipper where only part of his face was visible. He had tan skin and his bangs fell over his forehead almost into his eyes and curling around his freckled cheeks. He was wearing a black T-shirt and jeans and Dipper could see more freckles dotting his arms.

"Wow..." Dipper thought, "he's... beautiful."

Dipper simply stared, his mouth slightly open. This boy was peculiar, not because he was out in the middle of the forest at night, but because the source of the light seemed to be the boy himself. And he was speaking very quietly. Dipper tried to lean forward a little to make out what he was saying but it seemed to be in a different language. Suddenly, the boy stopped speaking and the light disappeared leaving Dipper in almost darkness and he ducked back behind the large rock.

"I know you're there." Dipper heard the boy say. He pressed flat against the rock, breathing heavy. "Come out," the boy spoke again.

Dipper debated heavily whether showing himself was a wise decision. He quickly decided that if the boy proved to be dangerous, running and hiding was always an option. Dipper quickly stood up and moved around the side of the boulder to face the clearing. But no one was there. Dipper was puzzled, he was certain he didn't hear the boy move, where was he?

"There you are!" A voice exclaimed behind him. Dipper cried out in surprise and fell backwards as he attempted to face the voice. The boy was standing in front of him smiling faintly.

Dipper stared up in shock with his mouth slightly open. How had this boy gotten behind him without him noticing?

The boy lifted and eyebrow and crossed his arms. "You alright?" He asked.

"Uh... I..." Dipper murmured quietly, trying to form his words.

The boy leaned forward, arms still crossed. He had the most beautiful eyes Dipper had ever seen. Bright gold with flecks of brown, the reminded Dipper of the sun in the fall.

"What?" He asked again.

"Y-you're... beautiful." Dipper spluttered. As soon as the words left his mouth Dipper thought he must have sounded incredibly stupid, especially when the boy leaned back with a hint of a blush on his cheeks.

The boy looked at him quizzically for a moment. "Do you want to play a game?" He asked.

"A game?" Dipper replied.

The boy half-smiled down at him and put his hands in his pockets, "yes."

Dipper was intrigued, and kind of scared. "Uh... sure. What game?" Dipper asked.

"An easy one, kind of like tag." He said, rocking on his heels.

Dipper had never been good at tag, and something about this kid was off enough to tell Dipper this was a bad idea. But still…

"What harm could it do?" The boy asked, almost as if he'd read Dipper's mind.

"I guess so then," Dipper said with a nervous smile. "What are the rules?"

"Easy, don't let me catch you." He said as he began to take his hands out of his pockets.

Dipper looked apprehensively at the object the boy had pulled out of his pocket. "W-what happens if you catch me?"

"If I catch you," the boy smiled widely, brandishing a small knife in his hand, "You die."

Dipper's heart was in his throat and his mouth went dry. He looked up at the blonde haired boy, who only a moment ago Dipper was astonished by, with nothing but terror in his eyes.

The boy giggled and stepped to the side, gesturing towards the trees with his dagger. "Go on," He crooned. "I'll give you a head start."

From that moment, Dipper was on autopilot. He scrambled off the ground where he had fallen and over the crest of the hill and into the trees. He didn't know how far the shack was, and really he didn't care, he just needed to get away. He tripped over a rock jutting up in the dirt and rolled the rest of the way down the hill. He scrambled back up again, glancing behind him as he did so. There was the boy, standing atop the hill, watching him.

He turned back and took off as fast as he could. Branches caught onto his sweater, and whipped him in the face as he frantically smacked them out of the way. He couldn't breath, his heart pounding in his ears as he ran.

Suddenly, something whisked by Dipper's head and lodged into the tree in front of him. Dipper stumbled backwards upon realizing it was the boys knife that was now two inches deep in the tree. Then he heard laughter. Manic, excited laughter that echoed in the darkness of the trees.

"Better watch out..." Dipper heard the boy sing-song somewhere behind him. "I never miss twice."

Dipper frantically pulled himself from the ground and continued to run in the darkness. Off to his right Dipper noticed a pile of rocks and he veered off towards them. He slowed as he approached them, checking over his shoulder as he did so. Beneath one of the smaller rocks was a small indention, almost a cave, and Dipper flung himself into the space.

He pressed his back into the rear wall of the little hole. He tried to quiet his heavy panting as he wiped the beads of sweat from his forehead. "Why?" He thought woefully, "why couldn't I have just gone to sleep?"

Dipper's breath hitched in his throat when he heard the crunch of leaves and steady slow footsteps approaching from somewhere outside. Then he saw feet.

The boys sneakers mere inches from the entrance of Dipper's hiding place, facing away from the hole. Dipper closed his eyes and held a hand to his mouth to keep his heavy breaths at bay. After what felt like ages, Dipper heard the footsteps move away until they faded out and Dipper was able to breath again.

Dipper very slowly crept to the opening and pulled himself out and onto his knees. He sat there for a moment, steadying his breathing supporting himself on his hands.

"There you are."

Dipper froze, eyes wide in terror. He turned over to see the boy crouching on top of the rock Dipper had just been hiding under. The boy leapt down from the rock, knife in hand and began to step steadily towards Dipper.

Dipper turned back onto his stomach and tried to get up when he was pushed back down. He tilted his head as saw the boy's sneaker pressed to his back.

"Oh come now," the boy said with a smile, "I've caught you now. No more running."

Dipper tried to squirm out from under the foot and managed to turn over before the boy kicked him sharply in the side. The kick rolled Dipper a few feet across the forest floor.

"Stop struggling!" The boy said in annoyance, brushing his streaked bangs from his face.

Dipper held his side in pain, he couldn't breath and his vision blurred. He could see the blurry figure of the boy move over him and straddle his chest. Dipper felt his arms being pulled away from his side and he fought the hands on him weakly. Dipper tried in vain to get free as the boys smiling face came back in focus.

"Why..." Dipper asked weakly.

The boy looked a little puzzled as the smile left his face. "Because I can." He stated simply. He transferred both of Dipper's wrists to one of his hands and with the other brought the knife right up to Dipper's cheek and pressed in until a thin red line was present. Dipper cried out in terror and pain.

"Stop!" Dipper shouted. "Please, stop! Don't kill me! Please!" Dipper yanked his right hand free and connected his fist with the boy's jaw. The boy fell backwards holding his jaw with one hand and still holding the knife with the other. Dipper lifted a leg and kicked out as hard as a he could, hitting the back of the boy's thigh and causing him to fall. He scrambled backwards against a tree and used it to help support himself, too exhausted to stand. Dipper looked up to see the boy standing up, a small string of blood dripping from his lips.

The boy put two fingers up to his lip and looked at the blood on them curiously. Then He gazed at Dipper with his golden eyes, a vague smile on his face. Dipper was caught in those eyes, the feeling of terror now mixed with the sense of captivation he felt when he'd first seen the boy.

"Okay..." the boy said. "I'll let you live." Dipper felt the most amazing relief at those words, which was then replaced with a new sense of dread as the boy continued.

"You're too much fun for me to kill you," he paused, "yet." The boy placed the knife into his pocket. He looked down at Dipper's scared face and smiled faintly.

"I'll see you tomorrow," he said, before disappearing into the trees. Dipper watched the boy leave, breathing heavily. After a few moments he stood slowly, clutching his now aching side. He looked up to the now brightening sky and determined which direction to go to get back to the shack. He began to walk, slowly and steadily, pausing to catch his breath or wipe the blood from his cheek.

"How am I going to explain this to Mabel?" He thought. He was trying to rationalize everything that had happened. The light, the boy, the chase, everything. He was confused and scared. And what the boy had said about "seeing him tomorrow" all terrified Dipper. He was curious about the boy, but he didn't have a death wish. Clearly this kid wasn't normal, he was dangerous.

By the time the shack came into view the early morning sun was beaming through the trees and the birds had begun to sing. Dipper stumbled onto the lawn and leaned against the totem pole just in time to see Mabel through the window he'd left open. Dipper sighed a little, then collapsed onto the warm grass and his vision faded out.

But as he fell, Dipper swore he could see a glint of gold out in the trees


	2. Chapter 2

Dipper woke up with a pounding headache and an ache in his side.

"Good, you're awake." He heard Grunkle Stan somewhere nearby. "Mabel, he's awake!" Dipper heard footsteps on the stairs and when he turned his head to the door, there was Mabel.

"Oh thank God!" She yelled.

"Hey Mabes." Dipper said through sleepy eyes. "What's goin on?"

"Maybe you should tell me that?" She chided.

Dipper rubbed the bridge of his nose with one hand and tried to sit up, but the sharp ache in his side kept him down.

"What... happened?" He muttered. "Wait... wait..." All at once the events in the woods all rushed back. The light, the fighting, the running, passing out in the yard, Mabel finding him in the yard, and the…

"The kid." Dipper said suddenly.

"The what?" Mabel asked, pausing in pulling out a bandaid for his cheek.

"Never mind. It's nothing." Dipper pulled himself into a sitting position, grunting with the effort. He pushed Mabel's hand away when she tried to stop him from standing. He hated when she worried, it was always his fault when she did. And this was most definitely something Mabel didn't need to worry about.

"Where are you go-?"

"Upstairs, I need to get clean." Dipper interrupted, before turning into the hall and up the stairs. With some effort and quite a bit of pausing Dipper made it up the stairs and to the bathroom.

He stood in front of the mirror and inspected himself. The most noticeable thing would have been the large dark circles under his eyes from not sleeping. They would be the most noticeable, of course, if it wasn't for the fact that his face was marked with small scratches and bruises, the largest of which was a think line that stretched from his cheekbone down to his jaw. His arms were also covered in small scratches and smudges of dirt. Dipper sighed pulled off his ruined sweater and lifted up his shirt to look at the rather sizable bruise on the side of his ribs. He thought he could vaguely make out a shoe print in the middle of it. Dipper touched it tenderly, it would be there for a while. He scowled at it.

"What the hell was with that kid?" Dipper muttered. He suddenly thought about the kid's promise of meeting again with excitement, the thought of payback. But that was replaced with apprehension when he remembered the kid's apparent indifference to murdering a teenager in the woods. And the strange light emanating from him while he was chanting in the woods. It was almost like he was a…

"Demons don't exist." Dipper muttered with a dismissive shake of the head.

With quite a bit of grimacing, Dipper managed to pull off one of his socks to inspect his injured toes. Both socks now had at least one hole in them and were filthy. Dipper's third, fourth, and fifth toes were all purple and quite swollen. Running on that foot after slamming it into a tree root was probably not the best thing for it. He decided the best thing for him was a shower and a change of clothes. It would be a lot easier to think about everything if he wasn't covered in dirt, blood, and ruined pajamas.

After he had showered Dipper grabbed a clean white T-shirt and jeans. His foot was too swollen to put on shoes so he elected to go without them. When he finally glanced at the clock he wasn't all that surprised to find out it was 8:47pm. Staying up all night and being beaten up can wear you out quite a bit. If he hurried, he knew he could watch the rest of the sunset from the roof. He passed Mabel on the stairs but she was too busy with her phone to pay him much attention. He walked into the kitchen and absent-mindedly opened the refrigerator. When nothing looked appealing, Dipper grabbed a bag of popcorn.

By the time Dipper had closed the hatch on the roof and sat down on the ledge of the roof, the sunset was already turning from pink to red. Dipper sipped his soda and distractedly rubbed the bruise on his side. Dipper leaned back against the warm shingles and closed his eyes in thought. That wasn't the first time his curiosity had gotten him into trouble. If was however the first time he had encountered something like that kid. Even for Gravity Falls, it was unnatural.

When Dipper opened his eyes the sky was now a brilliant orange-red that faded to a dark purple and the stars were coming faintly into view in the East. Dipper heard the boy's voice in his head once more.

"I'll see you tomorrow..."

But Dipper had a plan now. If that boy showed up, he'd be in for a surprise. While Dipper climbing the ladder, he overheard that Grunkle Stan had discovered that he had misplaced his handgun. It hadn't been misplaced, of course, Dipper had grabbed it off the nightstand on his way upstairs. Dipper made sure he wasn't going to be taken by surprise again. The rest of the evening sun faded out beneath the horizon and the stars began to blink into view. Dipper looked up at them wistfully. He'd always liked the night better than the day, especially in the fall. When you could look out and see the lighter shade of the Milky Way against the black of the night sky. He liked the colors at night better too. The bright vibrant colors in the sun were all well and good but the deep blue-green of the pine trees and grass were beyond compare. From where he was sitting on the roof he could look across the lawn and see the shadows the moon cast on the ground.

That was something else he liked about Gravity Falls, night time. Days in Gravity Falls were filled with adventures and monster hunting and sweaty, uncomfortable fishing trips. But when night fell it was so quiet, like the whole world had gone to sleep. The whole world except, it seemed, for the figure now emerging from the woods and walking steadily towards the Shack.

Dipper watched the figure with curiosity, though he had already guessed what it was. He deftly touched his right pocket and felt the shape of the handgun situated there. The figure stepped into a ray of moonlight and looked up at Dipper, it was as he had expected.

The boy looked the same as he had when Dipper had seen him the first time, with the exception of a cut-off black tank top instead of a T-shirt. The boy stared at him for a moment his head tilted in a way that moved his streaked bangs aside and caught the rays of moonlight in his eyes.

"I told you I'd see you again." The boy said with a smile. He was quite a ways from the shack but his normal speaking voice was somehow able to carry all the way to Dipper.

"I didn't doubt it." Dipper replied, he tried to sound nonchalant but he could tell that he did not.

"Come down and we can play another game." The boy spoke again, placing his hands in his pockets. Dipper instinctively grasped at the gun in his pocket. The boy frowned when Dipper didn't move and took a step forward.

"Unless you're afraid to lose?" The boy taunted.

"More like afraid to die," Dipper countered. "I'd rather skip the game and stay up here, thanks."

The boy sighed and took his hands out of his pockets with a shrug. "That's fine I suppose," he said. "I'll just have to join you up there then."

"What do yo-," before Dipper could finish the boy had disappeared in a blink. "What the?" Dipper looked around frantically, one moment he was there and then the next he was gone.

"Looking for something?" The voice came from behind Dipper so he spun around, and there he was. Standing on the peak of the roof mere feet from Dipper, hands back in his pockets. In a moment of fear and surprise Dipper yanked the gun out of his pocket and aimed it square at the boy's chest.

"S-stand back." Dipper stammered. He tried to act like he wasn't afraid but it was quite obvious that he was. The boy lifted his foot to take a step forward but stopped when Dipper's finger flinched on the trigger.

The boy set his foot back down and frowned. "You're no fun," He stated. He looked down at his feet and shuffled one against the roof with a dull scrape. "This game was a lot easier. No punishment if you lose."

Dipper's hands shook. Holding the gun like he was put a great deal of strain on his injured side. He wasn't sure how much longer he could use his weapon as leverage. "Again, I'll pass on the game," Dipper said. "Still a little sore from our last one."

The boy sighed and pulled his hands from his pockets. He lifted them next to his head as a sign of surrender, but in one hand was the dagger he had used the night before.

"Oh fine," the boy rolled his eyes and dramatically dropped the knife onto the shingles. The boy watched it as it skidded down the roof and landed with a small "clunk" in the gutter.

"Happy now?" He said with another sigh as he looked back at Dipper with his golden eyes.

"Quite," Dipper responded sarcastically. He lowered the gun but didn't put it away. The boy half smiled.

"We can play our game now." He stated as if Dipper had already agreed to it. The boy began to walk down the roof. When he drew even to him, Dipper took a wary step backwards. The boy sat down on the edge of the roof, legs hanging off the ledge, and looked out at the trees. Dipper looked down at the boy, then looked away and shook his head disapprovingly at himself.

"I must be crazy..." Dipper thought. Before sitting down about two feet from the boy.

"Alright," Dipper said as he set the gun in his lap, "what game are we playing this time?"

The boy smiled. Dipper looked at him out of the corner of his eye. This was the first time he had looked at him up close without the distraction of a knife in his face. The boy really was something to look at. He was skinny, but Dipper could clearly see the muscles beneath the surface. When he smiled the freckles that dotted his face like stars made it brighter. But his smile was a little unsettling for some reason, Dipper at first thought it was the hint of insanity that lurked behind it. But he now thought it was that it was just an unnaturally perfect smile, other than the fact his canines seemed a little sharper than most.

"You're going to guess my name," The boy stated as he leaned back against the shingles and closed his eyes with a smug smile. Dipper was confused, this seemed far too tame compared to what had happened the night before.

"Why don't you just tell it to me?" Dipper asked, annoyance sleeping through in his question.

The boy opened his eyes but didn't move. "Because I said to guess," he stated, "That's the game."

"A dumb game if you ask me," Dipper muttered.

"I could up the stakes, I suppose," the boy said as he adopted a more threatening tone. "I said no punishment but I can always change my mind."

Dipper's hand instinctively closed around the gun and he saw the boy's eyes dart to it and then back up again.

"I'll pass," Dipper said quickly. He stared at the boy apprehensively before continuing, "how many guesses do I get?"

"Three... Four if you're lucky." He said as he closed his eyes again.

Dipper decided to ignore the last part of his statement and began to think. "There's thousands of names, how could I possibly get it right?!"

"Tick tock," the boy sing-songed with a smile.

"Oh shut it!" Dipper snapped. The boy furled his brows, he appeared to be thinking. The boy looked like he was about to speak but Dipper interrupted him by throwing out a name.

"Michael?" Dipper guessed.

"No," the boy said, his expression changing again to one of mild amusement as he closed his eyes again. Dipper took notice of how quickly the boy shifted personalities, almost like a child.

"Anthony?" Dipper guesses again, and was again answered with a 'no'.

"One more guess..." the boy said, sitting up onto his elbows.

Dipper stared at the boy, studying him. The manic glint that had been in his eyes in the woods was returning. He thought quickly, hundreds of names came to mind but, how could he possibly come to the right one?

"I... I don't know," Dipper said quietly. The boy frowned again with a sigh.

"Oh well," he said, sitting up and looking out at the trees. "That's no fun." He was silent for another moment before standing up suddenly and speaking again. Dipper looked up at him curiously. The boy was looking down at him with a pensive look on his face.

"I've changed my mind." He stated blankly. The boy raised his hand up near his head and twisted it deftly, the shining dagger he'd thrown away early appeared in his hand. Dipper scrambled onto his feet, grasping at the handgun. He backed up slightly before raising it even with the boy's chest, his hands shaking violently. The boy stared silently, holding the knife slightly aloft. All pain Dipper had previously felt had been replaced with a feeling of fear.

The boy stepped forwards quickly and in a flash Dipper had pulled the trigger with a resounding bang. The boy stumbled backward slightly, shock plastered on his face, knife still in his hand. His heels teetered at the edge. He looked at Dipper, held tilted slightly, then down at the small hole in the left of his rib cage.

"You... you shot me?" The boy asked, barely above a whisper. He looked back down at his chest then back up again. As they locked eyes, the boy's eyes closed half-way and he tipped backwards off the ledge.

Dipper limply dropped the gun, he heard it slide down the roof as he tried to steady his shaking breath. He stood in shock for a moment before he scrambled to the edge, hurriedly searching the dark ground for the shape of the boy. However, he saw nothing on the grass below. Dipper quickly scaled the roof, opened the trap door, and hurried as quietly as he could down the stairs.

The slamming of the screen door behind him caused him to wonder why the sound of the gunshot earlier had not awoken either Mabel or Grunkle Stan. But, he pushed that thought out of mind when he rounded the corner to the side of the house that lay beneath the section of roof he had been on only minutes earlier. He'd luckily had the common sense to grab the flashlight from the hall table on his way to the door. Staying close to the corner of the house, Dipper clicked the light on and shone it to the patch of grass where the boy should've now been lying. But, as Dipper had seen from the roof, there was nothing on the grass.

Dipper cautiously creeped forward to the exact spot beneath the ledge and scanned the area around him. But still, nothing was there. Dipper stood in his confusion, moving the light from side to side. It didn't make sense. He saw the boy fall, he had to have landed here, but he wasn't there.

"That wasn't very nice, you know." The voice froze Dipper's blood in his veins. He stood completely still, not daring to look away from the light of his flashlight for fear of what he may find in the shadows. He waited, praying he had imagined it. Praying the lack of sleep was playing tricks on him. But then he heard it again.

"I wasn't actually gonna hurt ya'."

Dipper wheeled around, falling backwards with a small shout when he found himself almost nose to nose with the boy.

"Not too much anyways..." the boy muttered quietly. He began to take a step forward and Dipper scrambled back as quickly as he could. The gun was still on the roof, he had no way to defend himself. In his haste to get away, his injured foot kicked a small rock protruding from the ground and he had to stop momentarily in pain. Suddenly, his back hit the wall of the shack which made him wince again. He was trapped. Behind him: a solid wall. In front: a psychopath.

"Wh-what do you want from me?!" Dipper cried out. The boy stopped advancing, and tilted his head to the side before answering.

"I just wanted to play a game," he said with a shrug, his voice laced with innocence. He furrowed his brow for a moment. "Did... did I scare you?" He asked. Dipper detected the confusion in his voice.

"Well you've had a knife in my face for two nights in a row," Dipper shot sarcastically, "what do you think?!" The boy took a step back, golden eyes laced with confusion. He took a few more steps before flouncing to the ground in a cross-cross.

"I'm sorry." He said quietly. "I didn't mean to scare you, Dipper." Dipper still remained pressed to the wall.

"H-how do you know my name?" He asked shakily.

"Oh," the boy's mischievous aura returning, "that's a secret." As he said this he raised both of his hands a wiggled his fingers, Dipper swore he saw blue sparks twinkle around his fingertips.

"W-we'll then maybe I should know yours," Dipper forced the shake from his voice, "that was the point of the game after all."

The boy sat up straighter. "William," he said with a grin. Dipper didn't think that was a fitting name, he thought "Satan-spawn" had a better ring to it. The boy tilted his head again, which Dipper decided must be some sort of habit for him, before saying: "But you can call me Bill."

"A-alright then. Bill it is," Dipper kept his back to the wall, half expecting Bill to lunge at him again.

"I'm not going to try to stab you again if that's what you're thinking," Bill said with an exaggerated eye roll. Dipper relaxed slightly. Slightly. Because he'd promised no "punishment" if he guessed wrong and that almost ended very poorly. "How do you keep doing that?" Dipper asked.

"Doing what?"

"That thing you keep doing. It's- it's like you keep reading my mind or something."

The boy twiddled his thumbs over his crossed legs and looked down at his hands. He was quiet before looking back up again. His cheeks were tinged with an embarrassed blush, the kind you get when someone just pointed out something you're self-conscious about. Dipper's first thought was that it impossibly made Bill more attractive than he already was. That thought was followed by Dipper feeling ashamed for apparently making Bill uncomfortable.

"Do uh..." Bill stuttered slightly, "you want me to stop?"

Dipper's eyes widened and he leaned forward a little out of curiosity. "So... you are reading my mind?"

"Well..." Bill tilted his head again, "it's a little more complicated than that." He looked as if he was going to say more but trailed off, his eyes looking above Dipper's head. Dipper turned his head to see what Bill seemed to be fixed on. About a foot or so above Dipper's head a faint line of sunlight was beginning to creep down the side of the shack. It was almost dawn.

"I... have to go." Bill stated, getting up hurriedly and beginning to back towards the trees he'd emerged from at the beginning of the night. He glanced over his shoulder and back at Dipper a few times while continuing to speak. "I'll explain next time I see you."

"Which will be when?" Dipper asked. He tried to get up but the sharp pain in his foot kept him sitting.

Bill smiled again, his white teeth caught the glint of the morning light. "I don't know," The smile turned to a small smirk, "whenever I feel like it."

Dipper watched Bill walk into the trees and out of sight. His face was one of incredulity mixed with amusement and a hefty dose of confusion. If anything, Dipper was more scared of Bill than he had been last night, but for a different reason. At first, Dipper was scared for the obvious reasons: Bill was dangerous and had zero qualms about murder.

But now, Dipper's terror seemed to be coming more from confusion than from fear itself. As he sat against the shack holding his side, Dipper thought about this strange boy. He looked like he was Dipper's age, give or take a few years, but he didn't act like it. Dipper thought him very childish at times, and very adult and serious at others. He also seemed incredibly unpredictable: flipping from bubbly to murderous in seconds, and changing his mind on a whim. And, then there was the matter of his appearance. He was almost supernaturally attractive, in Dipper's personal opinion, and even the psychotic glint in his eye did nothing to hide that fact.

Dipper hoisted himself up, using the wall for support, finally tearing his eyes from the trees. By this point the sun was about halfway above the horizon and everything was bathed in the early morning light. He gingerly rubbed his bruised side and decided to conveniently "find" Stan's pistol the next time he had the strength to get onto the roof. As he made his way around the house he decided to see if there was anything similar to Bill in the journal. As far as he could recall, there was nothing. But checking was all he could think to do.

The bell above the front door gave off a faint jingle as Dipper slowly opened it, and barely made a creak as he shut it behind him. The clock in the hall showed 7:32 am. A second night without sleep, but he wasn't tired. Dipper wasn't sure if it was adrenaline or just being past the point of exhaustion. Dipper hobbled into the kitchen and pulled the first aid kit off the top of the fridge. He made a mental note to ice his foot later, but for now a new bandage and some painkillers would have to do. He re-wrapped his toes and grabbed a cup from the cabinet to wash down the pills. As he slid the box back onto the fridge he heard the faint creak of the stairs and turned to the doorway.

"Hey Mabel," he said. Mabel walked past him and grabbed a box of cereal off the counter.

"G'morning," she said with a yawn. As she poured her bowl she glanced over at Dipper. "How're the battle scars?"

"Could be better," Dipper said with a chuckle. He leaned against the doorway and looked out into the living room for a moment. "Hey, Mabel?"

"Yeah?" Mabel answered with another exaggerated yawn.

Dipper looked back into the kitchen and said: "I need your help with something."


	3. Chapter 3

**Authors Note: This chapter has mild language but nothing else. Please enjoy and leave a comment!**

* * *

"You did what?!" Mabel asked loudly, slamming the book she was holding down onto our shared desk.

"I shot him," Dipper responded thumbing through the pages of the journal. "But, in my defense he was trying to stab me." Dipper had spent the past hour recounting every detail he could remember from the past two nights. It would have taken a lot less time if she hadn't interrupted so many times.

Mabel looked at him incredulously before speaking again. "But then…" she trailed off and looked towards door before lowering her voice, "where… where did you hide the body?"

Dipper looked up from the journal page he was on and to his sister. "That's the thing, Mabel, I didn't have to."

With many more interruptions Dipper finished recounting everything he could and Mabel finally fell silent. He watched her pensive and concerned expression before he continued to flip through the journal and stopped on a page.

"Hey Mabel," he said with a small laugh as he held up the book to her, "think he could be a gnome?"

Mabel giggled a little before walking across the room to sit on the bed next to him. She leaned against his shoulder and glanced at the page about vampires he was now studying.

"You're gonna look at it with a black light, right?" she asked. To that, Dipper nodded and grabbed the black bulb he had sitting on the bed next to him. Mabel stayed over his shoulder for the next half hour, pointing out similarities between different creatures and what he'd told her about Bill. They continued for what felt like ages; however, cover to cover, there was not one thing that matched Bill.

Dipper closed the cover heavily and flung the book against my pillow in frustration.

"Nothing," he groaned, "nothing!"

Mabel glanced at the journal then stood up and walked over to the window. She put her forearms on the windowsill and rested her chin on her arms, squinting in the mid-afternoon sun. She smiled out the window when she heard Stan make a particularly loud proclamation to the tour group he was leading.

"Maybe we should take a break?" she suggested, not looking away from the window.

"Alright," Dipper sighed and headed for the door, "I'll make lunch. What do you want on your sandwich?" When Mabel didn't answer he turned back to her. She was looking intently out the window at something on the lawn. Without looking away from the window she spoke very softly.

"What… did you say he looked like again?" She tore her eyes from the window as Dipper rushed to her side.

"What?" he asked, rather loudly. She pushed her finger against the glass, pointing it in the direction of the totem pole. Dipper squinted into the sun. Someone was definitely standing in the shadow of the totem pole, and they definitely resembled Bill. "No… no way…"

Dipper pushed off the window sill and headed down the stairs as quickly as his tired body could take him. He jumped down the last step and slid around the corner, through the gift shop door, and nearly slammed into Stan's back.

"Oh! Ladies and gentleman, look here," He said in his trademark showman's voice, "the wild teenager in his natural habitat!"

Dipper tried to push past him to the door. "Stan move! I don't have time for this."

Stan grabbed his shoulder and stopped his progression to the door. "Woah! Slow down there, kiddo. Why the rush?" He asked cheerfully.

"I'll tell you later!" Dipper said back as he pried his shoulder from Stan's grasp and continued to push through to the door. He flung it open and sprinted around the building as fast as he could manage. But, when he reached the totem pole, no one was there. He circled around it twice, but, still, there was nothing. He looked up to the window where he had been standing with Mabel only minutes ago, but Mabel wasn't there anymore. He turned from the window to the woods and searched the treeline, but nothing was there.

"Dipper!" Mabel's voice made him jump and nearly fall backwards. When he turned to face her she was standing only a few feet behind him.

"What?!" Dipper had shouted before he even had time to think, and immediately regretted it. Mabel took a step back.

"I'm just trying to help you…" She said quietly. "What's going on with you?" Dipper, as if waking from a trance, suddenly realized how he must have looked to her. He was wide-eyed and frantic, looking desperately around the yard for someone who wasn't even there. Dipper took a shaky breath and calmed himself.

"I'm… I'm sorry," he mumbled, "I guess I'm just tired." Mabel looked unconvinced nodded once before heading back towards the shack. Dipper leaned heavily against the totem pole and watched his sister as she stopped and looked over her shoulder.

She looked at him for a moment before speaking again. "Come on," she ordered, "you're going to bed." To that, Dipper simply nodded and walked after her. Before rounding the corner to the front porch, Dipper took one last look back to where he seen what he'd thought was Bill from the window, but, again, there was nothing.

By the time he had made it up the stairs and to the attic, Dipper's exhaustion had fully set in. The warm afternoon sun poured through the window and filled the room with a warm, comforting glow. Dipper briefly thought of how starkly it contrasted the cold darkness of the woods when you're being chased through it. Mabel ushered him towards his bed and grabbed the journal off the pillow. Dipper wanted to grab it from her and put it under the pillow where he'd always kept it, but he was too tired to muster and resistance.

"Now," Mabel said as she headed for the door, "go to sleep. I'll bring you some food later." Dipper mumbled an agreement and piled his tired body into the bed. "You're gonna be okay, right?" She asked as she paused in the doorway.

To that, Dipper simply groaned and rolled onto his side to face the wall. He listened to the click of the door sliding into place, and then the faint creak of Mabel heading down the stairs. He stayed in that position for several minutes before rolling to his other side and reaching over to grab the journal from the nightstand. He laid it on the bed next to him and flipped the cover open, he ran his hand down the edges of the torn pages, thinking that maybe if he just looked through it one more time…

But, of course, he and Mabel had gone through it in vain already, so there was no point. He sighed and closed the cover heavily. Dipper placed one hand against the gold, six-fingered, emblem on the front and closed his eyes. As he began to drift into an exhaustion-driven sleep, he he heard a faint tapping from somewhere nearby. He opened his eyes slightly and glanced around the room, he could not see anything in the room that could have been causing it, so he decided it must have been someone in the gift shop downstairs.

The noise stopped after a time and Dipper closed his eyes once more. He marveled for a moment at how paranoid he must have seemed just then, pulling himself from sleep to jump at a simple sound, before drifting into a dreamless sleep.

* * *

When Dipper woke up, the room was filled with the warm glow of the late-evening sun. He sat up and stretched his arms out above his head, but quickly pulled them down again when his side ached. He rubbed his tired eyes and glanced at the nightstand, the clock on the table showed 7:17 pm. He pulled himself from the bed and walked slowly out of the room and down the hall to the bathroom.

When he looked at himself in the mirror he noted how the smaller scratches had already begun to fade, and the large one on his cheek was forming a bruise around it. He lifted his shirt to look at the bruise on his side. The edges of it had begun to turn a yellowish color, starkly contrasting the bright purple of the shoe print that he could now see clearly in the middle. He inspected his toes and concluded that one of them was definitely broken. Dipper yawned as he poked at the bags under his eyes before he turned on the cold water and splashed some on his face.

When he arrived back in his room the sun was squarely set on the horizon and bathing the room in orange light and stretching the shadows long against the ground. He stumbled over to his closet and pulled out some fresh pajamas. Once he'd changed clothes, Dipper walked to the window, unlatched it, and let it swing inwards. He closed his eyes and breathed in the autumn air before closing the window again and turning to head downstairs to find some food.

As he grabbed for the door knob he heard a sharp "tap" from behind him that made him pause for a moment. His first thought was that a bird had hit the window, but that thought was dismissed when the same "tap" came once again. Dipper slowly turned his head to the window, he jumped instinctively, expecting to find something in the window, but there was nothing. However, Dipper's eyes remained locked on the window, waiting to see if it would happen again. His shoulders were tense, and after a moment he realized he'd been holding his breath.

Then he saw it: a dark hand slowly reaching down into view of the window, rapping once on the glass, then pulling away quickly. Dipper breathed out heavily, correctly assuming who the hand belonged to, and shuffled over to the window. He reached up and unlatched the window as quietly as possible and pulled it open towards him.

Dipper waited, watching the open window. When he saw the hand slowly reach out once more, he quickly reached out with both hands and grabbed hold of it pulling downwards as hard has he could. A shout of pain from above him and the hand being wrenched from his grasp told Dipper that his actions had had the desired effect.

"What the hell!" He heard Bill shout from outside, "What was that for?!"

"For being annoying," Dipper shot back. As he reached to close the window, Bill suddenly lowered himself to where he was hanging upside down in front of it.

"At least I knocked," Bill said in annoyance. He glared at Dipper through the open window in silence for a moment. "So? Are you gonna invite me in, or what?" Bill huffed.

Dipper took a step back. "Depends," he said with a raised eyebrow, "are you gonna attack me again?" At this question Bill pulled a face as if he was thinking extremely hard, Dipper thought he looked rather silly hanging there.

"I dunno," Bill spat, "I haven't decided yet." He had his face scrunched up in a look of disdain, but from where Dipper was standing it was merely strange looking. Against his better judgement, Dipper relaxed a little with a small laugh. "What'chu laughing at?" Bill snipped again.

"You," Dipper stated plainly, trying to return to a more no-nonsense attitude. Bill stared at him for a moment before a smile spread on his face that made Dipper's spine tingle.

"Oh well," he sing-songed as he began to pull out of view of the window, "guess you don't want answers then."

Dipper lunged at the window and leaned out as far as he could without falling out. "No! Wait a second!" He shouted, "I didn't mean it."

"Oh, I know you didn't," Bill's voice had moved from outside to right into Dipper's ear and made him nearly fall out the window, "I just like to mess with you."

When Dipper spun around in surprise, he instinctively swung his fist at the figure who was now far too close to him. Bill caught Dipper's fist in one hand with a look of surprise. Bill narrowed his eyes at Dipper before speaking.

"I have a new game," he said, Dipper, once again, saw the glint of mania hiding behind those golden eyes.

"I-I don't want to play," Dipper stuttered. He attempted to pull his hand away but Bill held it tight.

Bill smiled and leaned towards Dipper slightly, to which Dipper tried to back away. However, Dipper's back was already at the window frame, there was nowhere for him to move. As Bill continued to lean forward Dipper turned his head away and again attempted to pull his hand free. He reached up his other hand to try to push Bill away, but it was quickly seized and his resistance was halted. Bill leaned in close to Dipper's ear, and chills went down Dipper's spine when Bill's breath brushed against his skin.

"Here's the thing, Dipper," Bill whispered quietly, "you don't really have a choice."

Dipper's eyes widened in fear when he was suddenly pulled from the wall and thrown to the floor. He landed heavily on his already bruised side and his breath was pushed from his lungs on impact. Before he could even get to his knees, Bill was already over him and pressing a knee to his chest. Dipper's hands clutched weakly at Bill's leg and tried to push him away in vain.

Bill laughed a little and he reached into his pocket. Dipper, sensing what was coming, felt the intense fear from the night in the woods returning to him. His breath caught in his throat when Bill drew out the now familiar dagger once again. "Okay," Bill mewled, "here's the rules." Bill leaned forward and lightly placed the tip of the dagger on the collar of Dipper's shirt. "If you scream, I win. If you cry, I win. If you swear, I win." He said excitedly, "If you pass out, I win." Dipper's mind was racing. "And if you die… I win!" Bill leaned forward once again with a smile, "If you don't do any of that, then you win!"

"I thought you said you'd give me answers!" Dipper squeaked, feeling the cold tip of the dagger through his pajamas.

"That's the prize if you win," Bill said as if it was the most simple thing in the world. Dipper began to breath very quickly, eyes searching around him for anything he could use to defend himself. When there was nothing to be found, he began to struggle and writh in an attempt to somehow free himself.

Bill shifted his weight and moved his knee so that he could sit on Dipper's stomach. He began to press the knife down very slightly, eyes focused on Dipper's terrified face. Dipper pinched his eyes shut and desperately tried to pull every inch of his body away. Bill smiled and drug the knife down the front of Dipper's shirt, cutting a rough line. Dipper choked back a shout as the blade of the knife made a small line down his stomach. Bill brought his free hand up to Dipper's cheek and pushed his head to one side against the ground. Dipper wrenched his eyes open, but now he was unable to fully see Bill's actions above him. Bill placed his knife between his teeth and used his now empty hand to push aside a half of Dipper's shirt. Dipper attempted to lift his hands to fight him away, but Bill quickly pinned his arms back down with his knees and scoffed slightly as he removed the dagger from his mouth.

"This is why I like you," Bill said quietly. Bill drug the flat of dagger across the helpless boys skin and to the left side of Dippers chest, just above his heart. "You're a fighter." Bill suddenly pressed the tip of the dagger into Dipper's skin and began to move it along the soft skin. Every muscle of Dipper's body screamed in pain and he thrashed unintentionally.

Bill clicked his tongue in disapproval. "Ah-ah, don't want me to mess up do you?" he chided, sickeningly sweetly. Dipper's eyes stung with tears and he pinched them shut to stop them. He had, quite correctly, assumed Bill "winning" meant he'd kill him. So he fought with every base instinct in his being to keep silent.

Bill once again placed the dagger against Dipper's skin and Dipper made an audible noise of protest. Bill laughed harshly as he once again drug the knife, much faster this time, before completely stopping but not pulling away. He sat completely still atop Dipper's stomach, and felt the other boys chest rise and fall sporadically with slight hiccups, to which he smiled. He watched Dipper's face carefully for a moment before speaking.

"Open your eyes," he ordered. Dipper didn't move and only continued to keep himself from screaming.

"I said open your eyes," Bill said louder as he pressed the knife in a little deeper. Dipper choked out a small cry as his eyes flew open. His adrenaline took over and he began a new bout of squirms and kicks to attempt to get loose. Bill, once again, laughed and began to move the knife along the now heavily bleeding skin. When he'd stopped moving, Bill pulled back the knife to admire his handiwork.

Dipper, eyes now glazed over in pain and exhaustion, simply stared up at his captor. Bill looked from Dipper's bleeding chest to his face and back again.

"I think it looks better that way," he said with a grin, "you win, I suppose." Dipper closed his eyes with a heavy exhale but opened them again when the weight on top of him shifted away. When he'd realized Bill had moved, he sat up quickly to try to crawl away from him. But, Bill had other plans.

"No, no," Bill chided, "I'm not finished yet."

"Get the hell away from me!" Dipper shouted back as Bill reached for him. Dipper smacked Bill's hands away desperately. Bill grabbed Dipper's wrists and easily stopped Dipper's escape. Dipper's eyes fell to the hands on him and he saw his own blood on Bill's palms, and he suddenly let out a loud shout unintentionally. He prayed that Mabel or Stan had heard him and would soon be in the room to help him.

"They can't hear you, Dipper," Bill said quietly as the smile left his face, pulling Dipper closer to him.

"Get out of my head!" Dipper screamed again, hot tears stinging in his eyes. As Bill pulled at him, Dipper kicked out his feet and connected his foot with Bill's leg. Bill simply grunted and furrowed his brow.

"Just. Stop. Struggling," Bill grunted and yanked Dipper hard from the ground and pushed him against the nearest wall. Dipper's head connected hard with with the wood and he groaned, his resistance being knocked away with his breath. "Do you want answers or not?!" Bill suddenly shouted.

Dipper went slack and would've slid down the wall if he'd not been being held up. He realized this was the first time in all of his encounters that Bill had raised his voice, and it scared him impossibly more. Bill released Dipper's wrists and allowed him to slump down to the floor. Bill squatted down in front of the boy and tilted his head with a curious expression.

"Hmph," he made a noise of disapproval as he pushed his bangs aside, "I guess you're not as tough as I thought." He paused for a moment before situating himself on the ground next to Dipper. Dipper would've moved if his aching body would have let him. "But still," Bill continued with a sigh, "I still like you." Dipper found no comfort in those words, because that meant Bill would keep coming back.

They sat in silence for a moment, the only sound in the room was Dipper's shaky panting. Dipper put up very little fight, only a quiet "stop," when Bill reached his arms around him and was pulled into the other boy's lap. Bill held him in his lap like a child, looking down at him fondly. Bill smiled as he pushed aside the tatters of Dipper's shirt and looked at the mark on the left of Dipper's chest. "You bleed a lot," Bill mumbled.

"No… Shit… Sherlock," Dipper spat slowly. He'd begun to feel incredibly tired which he attributed to his lack of sleep, and now lack of blood. Bill rolled his eyes dramatically.

"You're so sweet to me," He said.

"Fuck you," Dipper hissed as he pushed against Bill's hands. Dipper thought he heard Bill mutter something along the lines of "ask me later," but chose to ignore it. Bill easily pushed Dippers hands away and placed his warm fingers on the bloody mark, causing Dipper to hiss in pain.

"You know," Bill mused aloud, "if you'd calm down a little bit I can fix you up while I answer those questions that are ringing in your ears." Dipper simply glared as a response, until Bill pressed down on the cut causing Dipper to nearly scream again.

"Fine!" He half-shouted, as he willed himself to be still.

Bill smiled and tilted his head, "you have to ask nicely first, then you can ask questions."

Dipper gritted his teeth and looked away before asking as quietly as possible: "please."

"Oh fine," Bill said, removing some of the pressure he'd applied, "that'll have to do. Ask away." Bill began to lightly trace over the three marks he'd made on Dipper's chest. As his fingers danced lightly across the red-stained skin he muttered something quietly.

Dipper watched as the bloody gashes beneath Bill's fingers began to rapidly heal over into scars and the pain lessened. He exhaled fully for the first time since Bill entered the room and finally found his voice again.

"The mind reading," he stated, rather than asked, but nonetheless Bill answered.

"I'm not reading your _mind_ , per say," He answered with a bemused look as he turned his attention to the bruise on Dipper's side. "It's more like I'm reading your emotions. The stronger the emotion, the easier you are to read." Bill spread his fingers across Dipper's side and began to mutter again. Dipper felt a tingling in his side and looked down to see the dark bruise fading slowly away.

"What…" Dipper chose his words carefully, "what about all of the things you can do?"

"Things?" Bill questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"The teleporting and stuff," he said quickly, "and surviving a gunshot, and that thing you did in the forest the first time I saw you."

Bill snorted with a sudden burst of laughter and placed his hand tenderly on the cut on Dipper's cheek. "Oh that?" he asked sweetly, "just little party tricks." He leaned down close to Dipper's face. "Did you like them?"

Dipper reached up and pushed Bill's face away. Instead of answering, he asked another question: "What are you?"

Bill tilted his head once more with a curious expression. He caressed his fingers down Dipper's cheek, and Dipper felt the same tingling sensation. "How badly do you want to know?" Bill asked quietly, again leaning slightly forward. Dipper furrowed his brow and didn't speak. He wanted to know, but he was also afraid of knowing. As if reading his mind once more Bill spoke; "Very badly then," He whispered with a smile.

Dipper nodded his head a minute amount, like he didn't want Bill to notice it at all.

"You need to sleep first," Bill said as he stood up with Dipper still in his arms. Dipper attempted to squirm loose but Bill held tight.

"But, you said you'd answer all my questions!" Dipper said indignantly.

"Sleep first, answers later," Bill responded. He dropped Dipper onto his bed and, once again, leaned close to the boys face. Dipper's eyes widened in surprise when Bill placed a gentle kiss on his forehead. He was about the hit the other boy in anger when he was overcome with a wave of exhaustion.

"What…" he mumbled as his eyes began to droop, "what did you do?"

Bill smiled softly and Dipper watched through blurry vision as he began to back towards the window, "just another party trick." He shrugged. "I can't have you dying on me from lack of sleep."

"Wait…" Dipper trailed off as exhaustion overtook him, and he fell into a dreamless sleep.


	4. Chapter 4

Dipper's eyes fluttered open, and he sat up to stretch with a yawn. He realized that, for the first time in three days, his side didn't ache when he reached up. He rubbed his eyes and yawned again. All at once, all of the memories of Bill's last visit rushed back and his eyes frantically searched the room.

When he'd concluded that he was alone he exhaled heavily. However, he nearly sucked all of the air from the room once more when he looked down at himself. He was no longer wearing the torn and bloody pajamas he'd put on yesterday, and instead was wearing a fresh, un-ruined pair.

"Damn him!" Dipper hissed quietly, coming to the conclusion that Bill must have changed his clothes for him while he'd been asleep. This, of course, meant that Bill had to have _undressed_ him before he could re-dress him. Dipper continued to swear under his breath into the air while he swung his legs off the bed to stand up.

When his feet hit the floor, he winced in pain, quickly realizing that when Bill was "fixing him up" he clearly missed his foot.

Dipper hobbled out into the hall and down to the bathroom. He stopped just outside the door when he saw the light inside seeping out from under the door, and the sound of a running hairdryer. He knocked twice and waited for a response.

The hairdryer stopped and he heard Mabel answer, "yes?"

"Mabes," Dipper said, leaning close to the door to make sure he was heard, "when you're out I'm takin' a shower."

"Alright," she answered before clicking the dryer back on.

Dipper stepped back out of the path of the door and leaned against the wall. He lifted the toes of his injured foot and rested on his heel. He closed his eyes and leaned back his head. He hadn't looked at the time, but he was sure he'd been asleep for several hours. However he still felt tired, though significantly less than before.

He sleepily opened his eyes when he heard the dryer turn off and the door click open.

"All yours," Mabel said with a smile. She brushed past him and stopped at the top of the stairs. "I'll make you some lunch. You were passed out when I came up for with food, and still out when I went down for breakfast."

"Lunch?!" Dipper asked incredulously. He rubbed his eyes again as he closed the bathroom door. "Geez, how long was I out for?"

He turned on the hot water and grabbed a fresh towel from the cabinet, making a mental note to take some more painkillers when he finally made it down the stairs. The mirror had already begun to steam over when he'd started undressing. He pulled off the black pajama shirt and tossed it to the ground. When Dipper reached up and swiped the mist from the mirror, he nearly jumped back in surprise at his appearance.

His left hand came up to the side of his ribs. The bruise that had been there before was now gone and his side looked just as it always had, he breathed deeply and felt no pain from it, which was a relief. His eyes traveled up his chest and stopped at just below his collar bone. His fingers felt the soft, slightly raised, and scarred skin before his mind had processed it. On the left side of his chest, right where his heart was, Bill had used his knife to carve a triangle into Dipper's skin. His heart lurched as he traced the mark with his fingertips.

Dipper tore his eyes from the mirror and practically flung himself into the shower. He sat on the floor and closed his eyes, and let the warm water fall across his body, secretly hoping the mark would wash away down the drain. He rested his head against the cool shower tiles and mulled over everything that had happened, and the new questions he now had.

What _is_ Bill? Would he keep coming back? Was he going to kill him? _Why_ was Bill coming back? And, even more concerning to Dipper, did he _want_ him to come back?

When that thought struck him, he opened his eyes and physically shook his head. "Why would I _want_ him to come back?" Dipper asked aloud, horrified. His hand found the scar again and he pressed the flat of his palm against it. His eyes stung, and it was then he realized he was nearly crying. He rubbed at the scar, desperately trying to wipe it from his skin. But, as expected, it wouldn't budge. His stomach felt like lead as he miserably continued to scratch at it until it was an angry red.

He knew Bill would come back again, and again, but he couldn't understand why. The boy looked like an angel straight from heaven, but tortured him like he was the devil. Dipper, once again, miserably wished he'd just gone to bed that night.

* * *

When Dipper arrived downstairs in fresh clothes, Mabel was lounging on the couch with Stan, both in their pajamas, watching television.

"Your sandwich is in the fridge," she called to him as he walked past the living room and down the hall.

Dipper didn't respond, instead he simply limped to the kitchen and up to the fridge. He pulled the medicine box from the top of the fridge and set it on the counter, and when his stomach rumbled, grabbed his sandwich. He took a bite of the sandwich, then set it down and reached into the medicine box to look for the pain killers. Dipper's hand scratched at his chest again subconsciously and he scowled. Dipper picked up his sandwich again and angrily took a bite out of it.

"Geez," he heard Mabel laugh behind him as she entered the kitchen, "what'd the sandwich ever do to you?"

"Attacked me with a knife," Dipper grumbled sarcastically, "twice."

"Twice?" Mabel stepped up next to him and hoisted herself onto the counter beside the medicine box.

Dipper grumbled in response.

"Oh come on," Mabel said cheerfully, clearly trying to cheer him up. "We've been through _much_ worse. How bad could it possibly be?"

Dipper nearly slammed the remains of his sandwich back down onto the counter, and angrily lifted the left side of his shirt. He heard Mabel exhale heavily, and moments later felt her fingertips brush against the scar. He pushed her hands away and pulled his shirt back down.

"When…" she whispered, "when did that happen?"

"After you left. He came in through th-."

"But, I was only gone for a few minutes," She interrupted, "how could he have possibly do-?"

"Well he did it!" Dipper interrupted back, only louder. Mabel fell silent and looked at him, her face laced with concern. After a long pause, she spoke.

"You're staying with me all day," She said it more like an order, her tone leaving no room for protest, "and all night. If he comes back…" She trailed off with a scowl.

"You can't," Dipper responded sullenly, walking over to the kitchen window. He watched a rabbit hop lazily across the front lawn in the afternoon sun.

"Why not?" Mabel asked to his back.

"Because," Dipper snapped as he turned around, "he says that he _likes_ me and he did this." He pointed harshly at his chest. "Imagine what he'd do to someone he _didn't_."

"So what?!" Mabel shouted back, "you can't let him come back!"

Dipper was ready with a retort but instead chose to groan in frustration and turn back to the window.

"Look," Mabel said quietly, "this is the third time he's come back. What if… what if he keeps coming back? What are you going to do?"

"I…" Dipper sighed heavily and rested his forehead on the window sill. "I don't know. I don't know how to stop him. I don't know how to protect myself from him. Hell, I don't even know what _he_ is."

Mabel slid off the counter and and Dipper heard her shuffle through the medicine box.

"Here," she said, putting a comforting hand on his back and offering up a pill bottle.

"Thanks," Dipper mumbled. Dipper pulled his head off the window sill and took the bottle from her. He limped to the sink and grabbed a cup from the cabinet. While he was filling his cup Mabel looked out the window and spoke again.

"You know…" she said quietly as Dipper took a sip of water, "You could always ask Ford abo-."

Dipper's choking as he nearly spat out his water cut her off. "Oh yeah?" He said sarcastically through heavy coughing, "That would go _real_ well. 'Hey Ford! It's me, Dipper, you know? Your great-nephew you haven't seen in almost 5 years? I know I cut all ties with you after you went completely insane and almost killed all of us with your bat-shit crazy experiment, but I've got myself in some deep shit now and I need you to fix it," he mocked dramatically. "That would just go _so_ well."

"Well if you have a better idea, then go ahead!" Mabel shouted back angrily before storming to the doorway. Before she left she hissed over her shoulder: "Just don't be stupid and get yourself killed."

Dipper angrily set his cup down on the counter and fumed quietly. He heard the bedroom door slam shut upstairs and turned away from the hallway-side door and trudged out the door on the other end of the kitchen to the front door. He grabbed a sweater from the hall closet and elected to go without shoes. He swung the door open and didn't bother to stop it from slamming shut behind him. He slumped down miserably on the dingy couch that had been sitting on the front porch for years.

He stared blankly out into the trees and watched the autumn sun stretch the shadows across the lawn for several hours. His hand, every once in a while, absentmindedly rubbed the scar underneath his shirt, and he groaned. He closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the tattered cushions.

Dipper cracked one eyelid open when the screen door creaked open beside him and saw Mabel standing just outside the doorway. She glanced around before spotting him on the couch and shutting the door softly. She walked over to the couch and sat down next to her brother.

"Here," She mumbled as she handed him a full bottle. Dipper noticed that her eyes seemed a little red and puffy.

"What is it?" Dipper asked as he took it from her.

"Root beer," Mabel answered as she took a swig from her own bottle and stared out into the darkening trees.

Dipper sipped it and furrowed his eyebrows. "This… is not roo-."

"I know," Mabel cut him off, taking another drink, "figured you needed it."

Dipper mumbled a soft 'thank you' and laid his head back again. They sat together in silence and watched the sun set over the trees. After a while, the porch light flickered on and Mabel got up.

"D'you want another one?" She asked at the door. Dipper looked at their now empty bottles beside the couch.

"Yeah," he answered and closed his eyes again.

The door closed softly and he was left in silence. He listened to the birds singing goodnight in the trees, and the animals rustling out in the forest; however, one sound seemed more defined than the others. Dipper opened his eyes and sat up straighter to look out into the dark. The light breeze had pushed the clouds in front of the moon, so he couldn't see much further away than where the porch light ended. But, as soon as the figure that had been steadily walking forward stepped into the light, Dipper was already on his feet.

"Get the hell away from me," Dipper hissed through gritted teeth.

"Oh, that's not very nice," Bill, who was now standing a few feet from the front porch, chided with a smile.

"As if I care," Dipper spat back, taking a quick step backwards as Bill took one forward in the same moment. The smile left Bill's face and he glowered at the other boy.

"Hmph," Bill crossed his arms and looked away, "and after all I've done for you.

"You mean like this?!" Dipper suddenly shouted as he pointed at his chest.

Bill leaned forward with a sudden grin. "Do you like it? I did it just for you, darling."

Dipper, taken aback by the sudden sweetness in Bill's voice, let the disgust in him seep out into his expression. Just as he was about to retort, the screen door behind him swung open quickly and Mabel strode out onto the porch. She had a bottle in one hand, and a handgun in her other. Dipper saw Bill register both his sister and the weapon in the same moment, and stepped in front of her.

"So…" Bill leaned back upright and regarded Mabel with a look of disinterest. "You're the other one." Dipper reached a hand back and grasped his sisters wrist, the one holding the gun, and held it tightly.

"Put it down," he hissed over his shoulder. Mabel didn't acknowledge him and instead kept her cold eyes glued on the figure in the grass.

The previous air of childishness Bill had had before was now gone. "I don't want to play with _you_ ," He spat, "why don't you just go back inside?"

Mabel held her head high, and Dipper found no trace of fear in her voice. "Not if you plan on hurting my brother again."

Bill took a step forward. "That's none of your business." Dipper stepped more in front of his sister and pushed her backwards. He felt her start to try to pull her hand from him, so he gripped it tighter.

"H-how about you leave instead?" Dipper attempted to have the same confidence as his sister, but knew immediately that he'd failed when Bill's expression changed to one of amusement. Bill turned his eyes from Mabel to Dipper and smiled.

"Oh, sapling, you're too much fun for me to leave you alone," Bill mewled. Dipper stepped back again as Bill extended a hand to him. "Why don't you just come with me and we can have some fun?"

Dipper looked at the boy, drawing shaky breaths as Mabel continued to try to pull her hand free. "Y-you're crazy!" He shouted. He disliked the sudden use of pet names, sensing that it boded poorly for him.

Bill retracted his hand and tilted his head to the side. "Only a little," Bill said. His expression hardened again when his attention turned from Dipper to his sister. His eyes darted quickly to the gun in her hand that she was trying to wrench away from her brother. Bill raised a hand up and snapped his fingers next to his head. Dipper suddenly felt his hand go slack and Mabel pulled her hand from him.

"Go ahead," Bill mewled, he raised both hands up to his sides, "maybe you'll have more success that your brother."

Dipper's eyes widened in realization when Mabel pushed him aside and leveled the gun in front of her. Dipper fell to the ground, and, before he could move to stop her, she fired. The resulting bang rang through the silent evening. Bill fell backwards flat onto the grass and Mabel lowered the gun to her side. Dipper stayed on the ground, unable to get up as the adrenaline had worn off and his breath was gone. Mabel glanced at her brother before slowly stepping to the edge of the grass just off of the porch, as she did she took a swig from the bottle she still held in her hand. Dipper hoisted himself up using the couch for support before stumbling to one of the support posts and leaning heavily on it. Mabel continued to edge forward towards Bill's motionless body.

"Mabel…" Dipper hissed quietly, "be careful."

Mabel turned to look at him and began to say something, but was cut off by Bill quickly lunging off the ground and seizing the wrist of the hand holding the handgun. Mabel cried out in pain as the gun was wrenched from her hand and fell away from her. Bill twisted her arm behind her back and she cried out again.

"Let go of her!" Dipper shouted as he stumbled forward. His foot, luckily the uninjured one, caught the edge of the porch and he fell to his knees in the grass. As he made another attempt to get to his sister, Bill laughed loudly.

"I'd stay over there if I were you," Bill crooned. Dipper watched Bill extend his free hand and twist it in the air. The knife Dipper was now familiar with materialized in his hand. Dipper's breath hitched in his throat when Bill lowered the knife down to Mabel's throat. Mabel struggled against Bill's grip, but he only smiled wickedly and pressed the knife to her skin. Mabel stopped moving, seemingly frozen still, and a few tears trickled down her cheeks. "Where'd all that fight go?" Bill taunted, "Not nearly as much of a fighter as the other one. He didn't cry when I played with him, at least not too much."

"Hey Bill!" Bill looked up from watching Mabel to see Dipper standing a few feet from them. He trembled on his shaky legs but his eyes were unwavering and focused on Bill's own golden ones. Dipper shakily held up his hand, in it was the previously discarded handgun. "Wanna play a game?" Dipper asked coolly.

Bill's expression of murderous excitement wavered for a split second as he regarded the other boy, but returned quickly.

"My interest is piqued, do tell?" Bill asked as sweetly as a child asks for sweets.

Dipper's shaky hand clenched around the grip as he spoke. "The rules are simple," Dipper raised the gun, but instead of pointing it at Bill, he pressed the muzzle to his own temple. "You let her go, and I won't shoot, and you'll get to keep your… _playmate_." Saying those words made Dipper want to vomit, but he suppressed the feeling.

Bill narrowed his eyes at the other boy, his smile disappearing, and he looked as if his mind was working overtime to process the proposition. "Alright," Bill said slowly, a ghost of a smile playing at his lips, "shoot."

Mabel's eyes went wide as she tried to shout at him, but she was stopped by calculated pressure from the blade on her throat. Dipper didn't move, he realized how very little he actually new about this unpredictable boy. Bill watched him expectantly his chin tipped up slightly and head tilted to the side. "Go on," Bill cooed, "it's your rules after all, I'm only playing the game."

Dipper's hand visibly clenched around the grip and his finger moved to the trigger. Dipper exhaled heavily, he saw his breath make swirls of steam in the cool air. He briefly thought of what it would feel like to die, but this thought had become a common companion in the past few nights. He pushed that thought aside and spoke once more: "One more rule."

"I'm all ears," Bill said as he leaned forward.

"If…" Dipper glanced down at his sister then back up again, "if I shoot, you let her go."

Bill sighed dramatically. "So demanding," he paused and rolled his eyes with a slick smile , "since you so _desperately_ want me to let her go either way, I'll be nice and play by your rules."

Dipper half nodded at him and placed his index finger firmly on the trigger. Bill's eyes glinted with delight. Dipper stood completely still, he had not expected his bluff to be so accurately called. Now he had two options: don't shoot and Mabel would likely die, or shoot and hope to God Bill is a person of his word.

Bill's smile disappeared, "better hurry, your game is getting boring."

Dipper made his choice quickly and steeled his nerve. He tore his from the golden ones across from him and squeezed his eyes shut, then he pulled the trigger. Dipper expected a bang, maybe a flash of pain in his temple, and then nothing. He did not expect the shrill laughter that followed a sharp click from the gun in his hand. Dipper opened his eyes and dropped the gun loosely to his side.

Bill released Mabel's wrist and she fell to the ground and scrambled quickly away. He held his side with manic laughter and both of the twins moved warily back. Bill calmed himself before holding up one of his slender hands, pinched between his thumb and index finger was a small bullet. "Missing this?" He taunted, flicking the bullet into the grass at Dipper's feet. Bill took a few swift steps forward and Dipper continued to stumble backwards until his back hit one of the porch posts.

Dipper pressed himself into the post as Bill closed the distance between them quickly.

"I really do like you," Bill sighed sweetly as he placed himself nearly chest-to-chest with the smaller boy. Dipper found no comfort in this compliment and only stayed completely still and silent like a deer caught in headlights. Dipper shuddered when Bill placed a palm on the left side of Dipper's chest directly above the scar. "You know," Bill continued, eyes leaving Dipper's and glancing down at his own hand, "I really wished you liked me too."

"Y-you're crazy," was all Dipper could manage to respond before he was silenced by Bill quickly pressing his own lips to Dipper's before quickly pulling himself away. Dipper fell heavily to his knees as Bill moved away. Dipper watched in utter shock as Bill receded into the darkness beyond the porch light, and heard his voice ring clearly from the darkness.

"I'll see you soon."


	5. Chapter 5

Dipper stared out into the darkness until the stinging of his eyes made him look away. The previous commotion made the now calm night seem silent as the grave. Which was an apt phrase, Dipper thought, seeing as both of them were close to being murdered yet again.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Mabel pull herself to her feet and walk shakily towards him and grasp his upper arm. He nearly jumped out of his skin when she grabbed him and pulled himself away. Mabel let go as he scrambled back from her.

"Hey, hey," Mabel said in a hushed tone, "you're okay…" She kneeled down and swiftly pulled the handgun from Dipper's limp hand and tossed it towards the door.

"Like _Hell_ I am!" Dipper shouted, all shock being driven from him. Mabel physically pulled back in surprise.

"Dipper I ju-."

"What were you thinking?!" He hoisted himself from the ground and scowled down at her. "He could have killed you!"

Mabel rose quickly and put her face close to Dipper's to shout back, "Yeah? Well _you_ could've killed you!" He could smell the alcohol on her breath.

"Trying to _save_ you," Dipper spat back, "how can you be that reckless?"

"Well maybe if you'd just…" Mabel silenced herself before angrily turning from him and stomping towards the door.

"Just what, Mabel?" Dipper spat again.

"Just stayed away from him in the first place, this wouldn't have happened!" She screamed back as she threw her hands into the air.

"Y-. B-. How ca-," Dipper seemed to stumble through several sentences before landing on one, "Well maybe if _you_ could mind your own business the-."

"Him _murdering_ _you_ is my business!" She cut him off.

Dipper through his hands into the air impatiently as he turned away from her and looked out into the woods. Dipper fumed outwardly in silence before beginning to stomp towards the trees.

"Where do you think you're going?!" Mabel launched herself off of the porch and grabbed onto her brother's arm.

"Away from _you_!" He growled down at her.

"Oh yeah?" She raised her eyebrow, and her voice, angrily. "Away from _me_ , and towards _Bill_!"

Dipper yanked his arm from her and stared. They stood in silence as the porch light flickered. Dipper looked from his sister, to the woods, and back again. Dipper took a shaky breath and lowered his voice.

"Go to bed, Mabel," He said quietly, "everything will be better tomorrow."

Mabel's shoulder's lowered and Dipper saw her bottom lip quiver as she quickly turned away from him and headed to the door. The bell tinkled quietly as she pulled it open, and she stopped in the doorway.

"You know…" She mumbled over her shoulder, "when you say things like that, you sound just like mom." With that, she let the door fall shut and Dipper heard her trudge heavily up the stairs moments later.

Dipper stood just at the edge of the porch light, staring at the front door. He closed his eyes and felt the cool breeze that rustled through the pine trees behind him. The wind rippled through his shirt and made him shiver, not from the cold, but because the wind felt like hands dancing across his skin.

After a few minutes, he opened his eyes and limped towards the door. He stooped down to collect the gun from the ground with a heavy groan, and, after he was inside, placed it on the hall table beside the flashlight.

By the time he'd made it up the stairs and pushed the bedroom door open, Mabel was already in bed. Dipper hobbled to his own bed, not bothering to change clothes, and sat down on the edge. He picked up the journal on the nightstand and placed the palm of his hand against the gold hand on the cover. He sighed.

"Maybe I _should_ call Ford…" He mumbled into the silence. After a moment, he shook his head sullenly and returned the journal to the nightstand. Dipper looked back over at Mabel's bed. His sister was rolled in her blankets facing away from him. He didn't know if she was asleep or not but deemed it a better idea to just leave her be. He pulled himself into his own covers and closed his eyes.

"Goodnight Mabel," He mumbled into his pillow. He thought he heard his sister shift in her bed, but was already falling into the clutches of sleep before he could even register the sound.

* * *

"Wakey, wakey…"

Dipper sat up and rubbed his eyes sleepily. He looked around for the speaker, but instead found an unfamiliar sight. He was no longer in his bedroom, instead all he could see around him were trees. He pinched his eyes shut and shook his head before opening them again, but still, there were only trees.

Dipper pulled himself to his feet, and noted that his foot was not in pain. He spun in a small circle, surveying the trees around him.

"Where… am I?" he mused aloud. As he spun he saw a faint light out in the darkness of the forest around him. He had a sudden feeling of deja vu, but, for the life of him, could not figure out why. Dipper glanced around himself a few more times before deciding that towards the light was the only way to go. He started to walk, but quickly noticed that, no matter how swiftly he walked, he was not getting any closer to the light. He stopped walking and huffed loudly.

Dipper crossed his arms and kicked the dirt under his foot. "Well what do I do now?" He complained to the silent trees.

"Are you lost?"

The voice made Dipper jump slightly before he turned towards it. Dipper's first thought was that it would've been impossible for not to hear the person come up behind him. His second was that the boy in front of him seemed vaguely familiar. He was tall and dark, with freckles dotting his cheeks. He had sparkling blue eyes that blinked beneath his platinum blonde hair.

Dipper shrugged and looked around him before looking back to the boy, "I… guess I am. Where are we? And who are you?"

The boy smiled warmly, "I'm..." he paused for a moment, his smile faltered for a moment before returning, "you can call me Will." He looked over Dipper's shoulder before walking past him in the direction of the light. Dipper turned to where Will was walking and was about to speak when Will interrupted.

"My house is this way," He gestured in front of him, "you can come if you want. I'm sure mama has almost finished dinner." Dipper didn't move, he was busily studying the boys face. He was certain he had seen him before, but couldn't place where.

"Unless you'd rather stay out here in the dark," Will said, pulling Dipper from his daze, before he started walking again. Dipper shook his head quickly before half-jogging up next to Will, and then slowing to walk beside him. As they walked, Will began to hum quietly to himself. Contrary to the last time Dipper headed in this direction, the light actually seemed to be growing closer.

"Hey… uh, Will?" Dipper spoke up as they neared the light.

"Yup?" Will responded cheerfully.

"Have we ever met before?" Dipper nearly ran into Will's back when he stopped suddenly. Will half-turned to look back at Dipper, a curious look in his blue eyes. Will furrowed his brow and tilted his head in a way that sent a chill down Dipper's spine for reasons he couldn't think of.

"No…" Will spoke quietly, almost too quiet to hear, "I don't think _we_ have." Before Dipper could even process what Will had said, he was already back to the cheery attitude he'd had before. Will turned his back to Dipper and started back on his path, this time with a bit of a skip in his step.

Dipper hurried to catch up to the other boy and spoke through slight pants, "what d'you mean by that?"

Will continued to skip through the trees as he answered, "I just mean you may have met my brother." It was now Dipper's turn to knit his brow. He was still so certain that this boy seemed familiar, but he couldn't put a face to this 'brother' Will was talking about, or place Will himself. His brain felt foggy, like he was trying to think through a haze.

"Maybe…" Dipper mumbled. He felt a sudden ache in the left side of his chest and rubbed it absentmindedly as he walked quickly after Will.

Will giggled a little as he slowed to allow Dipper to draw even with him. "You'd never forget him if you had met him," Will mused aloud with another small laugh, "mama says he's quite the little devil."

Dipper raised an eyebrow, "is that so?" Now that they were nearing the source of the light, he could see Will's face more clearly. Will smiled faintly to the empty space ahead of him.

"Yeah," Will looked down at the ground, still smiling, "he's… exciting."

"In what way?" Dipper chuckled a little at the expression on his face.

"Well, we're twins," Will answered, looking over at Dipper, "but we're very different."

"I'm a twin," Dipper chimed in, "Mabel and I are pretty different too."

"Probably not as different as we are," Will chuckled, "he's not nearly as… _gentle_ as I am." Dipper considered this for a moment, but was interrupted before he responded.

"We're here," Will said brightly. Dipper looked towards the clearing, standing in the middle was a small cottage with warm gas lamps glowing brightly on the porch. Dipper thought it looked like a cottage out of a fairy-tale, slightly out of place in the dark woods. But, he also thought the house seemed sort of… off, but still couldn't decide why. Will skipped ahead of him and up the front porch steps. He pushed the door open with a faint creak and called into the house, "mama? I'm home! I brought company." Dipper followed Will into the house and awkwardly stopped in the hall after he closed the door.

"You have a lovely home," Dipper said politely.

"Thank you," Will said with a smile. Will started to walk across the room towards a hallway on the other side. "You can make yourself at home Dipper, I'll be right back."

"O-okay…" Dipper mumbled. He had a sudden shiver run down his spine despite the warmth of the room. He looked around the room he was in; it was small. The walls were painted a soft blue color, but the paint was chipping in the corners and behind the plush-looking couch that was nestled against the far wall, there was an ancient-looking box television set across from it. Next to the couch was an end table with a few lit candles that were filling the room with flickering light, next to the candles were three small pictures in wooden frames. Dipper decided to examine the pictures, as there would likely be a picture of Will's brother somewhere in them.

Dipper crossed the room over to the table. When he reached it, he could smell the strong scent of sugar cookie that was emanating from the candles. He picked up the first picture on the table. Centered in the picture was a large waterfall, and there was a figure standing in front of it. Dipper raised the picture closer to his face to make out the figure more clearly. Upon closer inspection, Dipper thought the figured looked an awful lot like… "Me?" Dipper muttered, eyes wide.

He quickly set the picture back down, nearly dropping it, and picked up the slightly larger one behind it. Centered in this picture was a building nearly identical to the Mystery Shack. Dipper used his free hand to rub his eyes quickly before looking back at the pictures. He nearly dropped this picture too when the picture inside was now different than before, now it was a picture of the house he was in now.

He reached for the third picture on the table, setting down the other at the same time. There were two people in this photograph, one was, very clearly, Will. The other person looked exactly like Will, only his hair had a black streak towards the front and his eyes were gold instead of blue. As he looked at the two boys in the photo, Dipper's chest began to hurt again. He set the picture down and pulled out the collar of his shirt. He looked down at the aching spot, but there was nothing there that could have been hurting him.

"Hey, Dipper? You ready for dinner?" Dipper turned at Will's voice.

"Yeah I ju-." Dipper froze. Standing beside Will in the hallway was the other boy from the picture. The other boy was looking down at a book in his hand. "That's… that's your brother?"

Will looked from Dipper to the boy next to him. "Yeah," Will put his hand over the book his brother was holding, causing him to look up. "This is my brother, Bill. So, have you guys met?"

"Uh… I…" Dipper furrowed his brow and looked Bill up and down in confusion. He _knew_ this kid was familiar, something about him was pulling at the back of his mind.

Bill, on the other hand, smiled widely at Dipper before looking to his brother. "Oh yes, we've met."

"Excellent!" Will returned a kind smile, seemingly ignoring Dipper's confusion. "I'll go tell mama we're ready for dinner." Will turned from both of them and walked back down the hallway. Bill leaned back against the wall he was standing near, his smile now replaced with a look of boredom.

"I-I'm not sure we _have_ met…" Dipper said quietly. Bill tilted his head and said nothing in response. After a long silence, Dipper quickly moved to change the subject, "Where did you get this picture?" He held up the picture of the waterfall. Bill simply shrugged and looked off down the hall. Dipper's chest ached once more, but more than before. He exhaled heavily and set the picture back down. They stood in silence again.

Bill pushed off the wall and crossed the room to the couch beside where Dipper stood, never taking his eyes off of the other boy. Dipper turned his body to follow Bill as he moved. Ever since he'd stepped in the house, Dipper had been having a steadily growing feeling of dread and, it seemed, that that feeling had grown much more since Bill entered the room.

Bill sat down on the couch, his chin in his hand, regarding Dipper quietly. After another period of silence Bill spoke, "you're sure we've never met?"

Dipper opened his mouth to answer but was cut off.

"Because I know you," Bill smiled widely up at Dipper.

Again, Dipper tried to speak but was interrupted.

"How about I give you a reminder?" Bill lowered his voice as he spoke. Dipper was about to ask what he meant, but Bill quickly grabbed Dipper by the wrist and dragged him onto the couch beside him.

"What are yo-?!"

"Shhh…" Bill hushed. He quickly swung his leg around Dipper's hips and pinned his shoulders down.

Dipper struggled to throw the stronger boy off of him. "The hell are you doing?!"

Bill grunted when Dipper struck him in the side. "Oh calm down, will you?" He grabbed both of Dipper's wrists, "You always struggle so much."

Dipper, overcome by confusion, greatly reduced his efforts to get free. "What… what do you mean ' _always_ '?"

Bill tilted his head and smiled at the boy beneath him. "Oh, of course," he breathed softly, "how else could you be _here_?" Bill leaned forward close enough for Dipper to feel his breath on his skin.

"What are you talking about?" Dipper leaned his head back and away from Bill's.

"You need to wake up, darling," Bill cooed, "If you wanted to see me so badly, you could have just said so. You didn't have to come all the way here."

Dipper shook his head in confusion, "who the _hell_ are you?! What are you talking about?!" He began to thrash against his captor again.

Bill giggled, sending a shiver up Dipper's spine. "Don't worry, I'll remind you." Bill transferred Dipper's wrists to his left hand, and placed the palm of his right hand on Dipper's chest. Dipper felt a sharp burning sensation and cried out in pain.

He heard the sound of running feet followed by Will's voice in the room. "Bill?! The hell are you doing?!"

Bill's focused eyes stayed on Dipper as he answered, "helping our _friend_ wake up." He pressed his palm down harder onto Dipper's chest, causing him to scream louder. Dipper turned his head to Will pleadingly and he began to move towards them, but he suddenly seemed decided against it and stayed where he was.

"Dipper, look at me," Bill said harshly, "I'm trying to help you." Bill leaned forward and planted a soft kiss on Dipper's forehead. Dipper pinched his eyes shut as a sudden weight seemed to crash over him that mingled with the burning in his chest.

He kept his eyes closed until the weight he'd felt subsided, he took several deep breaths and opened his eyes. Bill was still seated on top of him, but he now could remember why Bill was so familiar. He remembered everything.

Dipper stayed completely still, looking up into Bill's calm eyes.

"How do you feel, love?" Bill asked sweetly as he released Dipper's wrists. Seeing an opportunity, Dipper quickly shoved Bill off of him and scrambled off the couch. Bill shouted in surprise and quickly pulled himself onto his feet, turning to where Dipper was now backing away. Bill took swift steps forward, the all-too-familiar-knife materializing in his hand. But, before Bill could reach him, Will stepped in between them.

"Get out of my way," Bill growled to his brother.

Will raised his chin in defiance. "I don't think mama would like it if you hurt him," he chided calmly.

Bill let out a harsh laugh, "Mama's not here, idiot. And besides, _he_ likes it."

Dipper took another step back, further behind Will. "Like _hell_ I do!" He shouted over Will's shoulder.

Bill tilted his head, "then why are you here?"

"Because you brought him here you _ass_ ," Will answered for him, taking a step forward.

Bill lowered his shoulders and took a step back, "Wh-. No I didn't!" Both Will and Dipper looked surprised, but Dipper's expression was also filled with confusion.

"But… then how… why are you…?" Will half-turned to look at Dipper. He looked between his brother and Dipper several times. "Bill…" He lowered his voice, "What… what did you _do_ to him?"

Bill chuckled dryly and shrugged. "Not a whole lot," the knife in his hand disappeared and he crossed his arms, "we just played a few games."

Will's eyes widened, "you didn't!" He shouted. He suddenly wheeled on Dipper, "you didn't!" Dipper took another step back as Will advanced on him.

"Wh-what are you do-?" Dipper was silenced when Will suddenly grabbed the collar of his shirt and yanked it down, revealing the scar that had returned to his chest. He stared at it wide-eyed until Dipper pushed his hands away.

Will looked down at the ground for a long time, the room silent, before looking back to his brother. "...Why?" Will looked horrified.

Bill sneered at him mockingly, "because I wanted to, duh."

"He's a human!" Will shouted back, "You can't jus-!"

"I _can_ , and I _did_." Bill spat.

Dipper shrank back from both of them until his back was pressed to the door. As the two argued back and forth, the room (and the mood) steadily began to darken, the candles flickered violently and the warmth felt like it was being drained away.

Will quickly turned to Dipper and spoke very quickly. "You need to wake up. Right now." he ordered.

"Wake up? What do you me-?"

"You just have to!" Will shouted frantically. He wheeled back around to his brother who was glowering at him from across the room. "And _you_! _You_ need to stay away from him."

"Fine!" Bill shouted back angrily, Dipper swore that a golden glow was starting to form around him, the same glow as the first time he'd seen him. Dipper's knees felt like they were about to give out from fear. Bill's harsh eyes found Dipper standing at the door. "I'll wake him up!" He hissed.

Before Dipper could say a word of protest, Bill was storming across the room. Will grunted in pain as Bill shoved him aside and he slammed into the wall. Dipper, quite uselessly, tried to move further back but was impeded by the door. Bill stopped advancing when he was mere inches from Dipper's body. "It's time to wake up, darling," Bill hissed menacingly, "let me help you."

Dipper nearly doubled over in pain at the sudden pain in his right side. He exhaled limply and looked down to his side. Bill's knife was stuck several inches into Dipper's stomach. Dipper's legs gave out and he fell forward onto Bills shoulder. He gasped in pain as hot tears began to spill down his cheeks.

"Shh… shh…" Bill hushed, "just close your eyes." Bill used his free hand to grasp Dipper's shoulder and push him more upright. Dipper's blurry eyes saw Bill tilt his head with a wicked smile, "sleep tight…"


End file.
